The AMF Mar Vista Lanes is going to be renovated into something more like a Lucky Strike Bowling Alley. Check out the tiki while you can.

Pepy's Galley, the circa-1960 diner attached to AMF Mar Vista Lanes, lately feels more like a funeral parlor than the friendly neighborhood joint its lifelong customers remember. That's because the nautical-themed coffee shop is facing eviction on June 30, when BowlmorAMF, the country's largest ten-pin bowling center operator, takes ownership of the building and begins major renovations. Those renovations include turning Pepy's Galley into an in-house food service that caters to the bowling center.

Is anyone interested in saving the tiki? Now sounds like a good time to visit, take final photos, and make inquiries about the contents.
_________________I need to spend more time in my bar and less time posting on Tiki Central...

We are sensitive to the feedback, both positive and negative, that we have received from the community surrounding the renovation of AMF Mar Vista Lanes, which will include the closing of Pepy’s Galley. While many have expressed excitement at the introduction of a significantly upgraded family-friendly bowling center, we have seen some misinformation and confusion in the press and social media about the new facility and below is a letter to help spell out the facts.

AMF Mar Vista Lanes opened in 1960 and has not had a major upgrading since that time. The entire infrastructure is old, dated, unreliable and uneconomic. I can think of no other business that has operated with success after 54 years of basic neglect. The facility does not earn enough to pay a market rent.

The community of Mar Vista and greater Los Angeles deserves a far better experience and that is why in late June, the property will be closing to begin renovations that will upgrade and modernize the building. The new facility will remain a family-friendly bowling alley and entertainment center that will cater to guests of all ages as well as serve a wide range or food and beverage offerings. I anticipate somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 – 30 new jobs will be added and many of these will pay quite well.

There will not be an outside dining component as currently exists. Rather, the food service will be brought in house and will exist to serve patrons of the bowling center. It is impossible to economically maintain the current arrangement with Pepy’s Galley as his rent is a small fraction of market rent and the restaurant space would need close to $1 million in upgrades to bring it to current code.

When we bought AMF on July 1 of last year, it was just exiting bankruptcy for the2nd time in a decade. Had we not bought it and committed to invest in the company, 7,500 people would have lost their jobs and bowling would have become largely non-existent in major parts of the country, particularly in West LA as the AMF facilities here would have been shut down and converted to other uses.

We have been approached by developers who would like to buy the Mar Vista property and convert it to upscale condos. Candidly, it would be the right economic decision for us to do that but we have chosen to maintain our commitment to bowling and to the community of Mar Vista and to invest a significant amount of money to ensure the viability of bowling in that market.

As noted above, there are all sorts of inflammatory and inaccurate statements about what our intentions are and how we have acted being floated on social media. I will respond to two of them. First, we are not converting the property to a nightclub type of bowling alley. It will remain a somewhat traditional, although very nice, family friendly bowling center.

Secondly, we had the right to terminate Pepy’s month to month lease with 30 days notice and could have done so upon acquiring the property in July 1, 2013. Instead, we let him stay in place, at a small fraction of market rent and at significant cost to us, but can no longer do so as we prepare to renovate the entire facility.

It has been suggested that Pepy’s could easily be relocated to another site in the market. Several suitable restaurant vacancies have been mentioned on the Facebook site. It would seem that given the level of customer support in the market, Pepy would be as successful moving down the street as he is in the current location. It is of course entirely his decision.

Again, we are sensitive to the feedback that we have received from the community and hope that this letter has helped clarify the facts behind the renovation of AMF Mar Vista Lanes.

There's an update to a Facebook thread that's discussing the fate of the "Pepy's Galley" restaurant at the Mar Vista Lanes. The person leading the conversation (Mia Duncans) posted this as an update yesterday:

"Just received a call from Nick of Bowlmor because I left him a message regarding what happened to the Tiki statue in front of the lanes.. He said it was not them that removed it..."

On 2014-06-29 21:07, luisreyestiki@yahoo.com wrote:I am the co-author of the book, The Hawaii Movie and Television Book, 100 years of filmmaking in the Hawaiian Islands.

Yes, And.....

Aloha Luis

Welcome aboard Tiki Central (TC)
First thing for a newbie is to introduce yourself in the: Tiki Central Forums » » General Tiki » » Official Introductions / Introduction thread! New members introduce themselves there. You can find this thread from the home page. Then browse around the different discussions and if you feel you can add or you have additional information on a subject please write in. But make sure you read the tread from page one so you do not repeat what has been discussed already (another rookie mistake) That's all I will say because even this lesson is not appropriate here. Good luck.

Here are a couple of views of the new Bowlero - the lounge/alley that replaced Mar Vista Lanes. The view of the bar shows the space that once held the Makai Room (a tiki bar). While the Makai Room became just a regular bowling alley bar for the past couple of decades, its general layout, lava rock wall, and other various details remained. What used to be the lava wall has been completely blown out and the bar now opens directly to the alley.

Posting these mostly 'for the record.'
I had been searching for any images of the old Makai Room at Mar Vista Lanes and only found these photos (from Yelp). This is the only way I remember the space - after it became a solid 'bowling alley bar' vs. its former tiki glory.

If anyone has old photos of the Makai Room as a proper tiki bar, they would be most welcome.